BVX

AmdPimp

cowboyesfan wrote:1 speaker....yeah, it's a bit pricey. Especially so close after Christmas.

These are normally around $3,000 a piece. This is a fantastic deal. Keep in mind two things though. First, these are "omni" directional. Which means it tries to spread the sound in all directions. This is good for rear speakers or light use home theater fronts. These would be excellent 2 channel stereo music speakers. Second, these will be extremely heavy. Nearly 80 pounds a piece and they are very large. So keep in mind aesthetics and the missus. I don't own these, but I've heard them and they are very, very good. A bit brighter than I'd care for, but you can tone that down if you're careful.

swifijon

I was lucky enough to snag a 5.1 system of the xbox Spherex speakers from Circuit City when they closed for $200. It has the same mirage omnistat technology. It has a pretty good sound stage and helps with a larger listening sweet spot.

lwang

Spectr3 wrote:Oh. I see what you did there. I'm wondering for those who spend this amount of a single speaker what makes it worth it for them? Or is it one of those gold plated iPhone sort of things?

there are components that are produced for a price tier, and with those, they frequently maximize the looks of those things in order to sell the product based on looks. Then there are components that are produced with how they sound as the main criteria, thus the internal component and quality are based on how they would reproduce sound..lets not forget lots more R&D going into these. There are also no holds barred components where any component, no matter the price, will be used for sound reproduction sake.

As price goes up, the quality of mfg also goes up. You can't be expecting cardboard interiors on speakers costing 20x more than box store specials.

ppanik

These are going to be sold out. So, if you're thinking about purchasing them, don't miss out. I bought a pair of these last spring (in rosewood). Their strongest point is their beauty. Everybody who visits comments how expensive these speakers look. The sound is decent, but not fantastic. I wish they were more focused. The omni directional technology fills the room with sound, which bounces all over the place. You have to place these properly too. Also, these are tri-amp compatible. They need some good clean power.

shellbell811

Wish this was the price when I bought them a few years ago! I have them and paid a lot more than 900 a speaker. I am not into the whole surround sound set up so I use them as a 2 channel with my mid end Sony receiver and they sound great. I have always been an audio nut so I could tell the difference in sound. My wife on the other hand when we bought them said "Isnt a speaker a speaker"? Even she was impressed with the sound. Mine came with a microphone that you put where you sit and it celebrated my receiver. With the Omni tech the sweet spot is everywhere for the high pitch sounds. Bass is impressive also with the 8in woofers.

Pufferfishy

If you're going to buy these you likely know this already - but you need to be able to place these in a room in near absolute symmetry, and you need a fairly hefty (> ~$800) amp/receiver driving them or your rather wasting your money.

Failing on either count is going to be a waste of cash.

Their center channel is pretty to look at but doesn't have a lot of rave reviews given the price point.

Me - I'd pass and get Klipsch RFs. Easier on the wallet, placement, and power required.

These have been around for 6 or 7 years - they DON'T sell all day long for $3k/pair on eBay (likely former Woot purchasers thinking they'd turn a buck - lolz)

lorenzodemedici

I'm sure these will sell out. Not exactly the type of speaker that I like, but a great price nevertheless. These aren't for laptop using apartment dwellers, or the 30 somethings that still live with their parents. These are for people who can afford and appreciate them. And they sure don't sound like the cereal boxes that people claim to be speakers these days. I am using the Adcom GFA 5500 to drive my front mains and it would be a good amp for these speakers. There is argument but no general agreement over the GFA 5500 vs the GFA 555se. The 5500 is more modern with MOSFET Class A design. The 555SE is a reissue of an amp they designed back in the 1980's. The 5500 does run quite hot though, so if your installation would benefit from a cooler running amp, that may favor the 555SE. A pair of Adcom amps running a pair of these speakers, in the right room, with the right placement, would be audiophile heaven.

ctviggen

Spectr3 wrote:While this is undoubtedly an amazing deal on these particular speakers I am amazed at how much they cost... what exactly do you do with them that is worth that price?

$1,800 for two nice speakers is cheap. I've spent way more for a single speaker.

Enjoying these depends on how much you like to listen to music and how you listen. Do you listen to "Take me down to the water to pray" with Alison Krauss and a choir and try to pick out individual singers in the choir? Do you enjoy trying to adjust everything so that the choir sounds as it should (i.e., behind Alison by quite a bit)? When Johnny Cash joins Roseanne Cash in "September when it comes", does it send chills down your spine? Are there songs that evoke emotions in you? If so, these are speakers for you. If not, enjoy your speakers built into your monitor or your ear buds.

blipper67

As an audiophile and home builder of high end speakers using premium drivers for over 30 years, I wouldn't touch these. For starts, I want a directional tweeter, one that allows my ears/brain to set up a good sound stage. That means left to right, front to back.

lorenzodemedici

SurplusHP wrote:Remember back when you could go to an electronics store and they had a quiet room where the salesman would run a switch and let you listen to all the different speakers?

Good times.

Yeah. I used to hang out at some of those places where they kept the door locked to the listening room and wouldn't let you in unless they thought you were a serious customer. On the other hand, in 2013 you can spend a fraction of what that stuff used to cost and get 90% of the results. Accompanied by a 60 inch video screen. That's not so bad either. Most people don't care about the missing 10%.

lorenzodemedici

blipper67 wrote:As an audiophile and home builder of high end speakers using premium drivers for over 30 years, I wouldn't touch these. For starts, I want a directional tweeter, one that allows my ears/brain to set up a good sound stage. That means left to right, front to back.

I think you make some very good, knowledgeable comments about these speakers, except perhaps you could leave some room for people who like this design. I'm with you on the engineering side. That's why I would not buy these for my own use. But I think some people might like them very much, and I don't think they are overpriced.

blipper67

lorenzodemedici wrote:I think you make some very good, knowledgeable comments about these speakers, except perhaps you could leave some room for people who like this design. I'm with you on the engineering side. That's why I would not buy these for my own use. But I think some people might like them very much, and I don't think they are overpriced.

What about those awful (non-partisan) lab measurements? In all fairness if I could ever get pass that I might give them a proper audition but definately would never buy them sight unseen.

I have the Aria 5's paired with two 15" subs, bi-amped, separate outboard amps.... plus custom built center, surrounds, etc. that are driven by the onboard amps in my Denon AVR. One can buy the parts and if you're not handy with a table saw give the cabinet plans to a cabinet shop or buy the boxes here with the kit:
http://www.zalytron.com/premium.htm

Knock-off's of Joe D'Appolito's M-T-M are a dime a dozen FWIW.

BTW, I plugged the reflex slot on the M-T-M Aria 5's, sealed them, but by themselves they are very impressive and clean in the bass region.

lorenzodemedici

blipper67 wrote:What about those awful measurements? In all fairness if I could bet pass that, I would give a proper audition, definately NOT buy them sight unseen.

I have the Aria 5's paired with two 15" subs, bi-amped, separate outboard amps.... plus custom built center, surrounds, etc. that are driven by the onboard amps in my Denon AVR. One can buy the parts and if you're not handy with a table saw give the cabinet plans to a cabinet shop or buy the boxes here with the kit:
http://www.zalytron.com/premium.htm

Knock-off's of Joe D'Appolito's M-T-M are a dime a dozen FWIW.

BTW, I plugged the reflex slot on the M-T-M Aria 5's, sealed them, but by themselves they are very impressive and clean in the bass region.

If you read the entire article from which you extracted the measurements, you might have a different view. A measurement chart is worlds away from a live listening experience. The reviewer overall liked the speakers very much. His conclusions:
"Conclusions
While not without flaws (what speaker is?) the Mirages were so impressive that while listening I started to think about buying them.

Unfortunately, space is an issue around these parts as review speakers do tend to pile up before we can tackle the drudgery of packing them up for return. And the Mirages' room sensitivity, combined with their deviations from technical accuracy, doesn't make them the ideal analytical tool for evaluating other products.

But the tradeoffs inherent in the uniquely designed Mirage omni speakers, and in particular this OMD-28 system (the only Mirange omnis I've spend time with in my own home theater) have been so cannily balanced here that the sheer listenability of these speakers, on both music and movies, is superb. As I said earlier, adjusting to an omni design can take time, and the performance of such speakers is different enough from conventional designs that I highly recommend you precede any purchase with a thorough, personal audition.

But do give them a shot. Take your time. Listen to them on a wide variety of music and movies. Become accustomed to their strengths. You might just fall in love with them.

Highs
Huge soundstage, with excellent depth
Forgiving of bright program material, but still highly detailed
Powerful bass from the OMD-28s, though a good sub will further enhance their performance, particularly on movies.

Lows
The bass can sound over-ripe on some material, including dialog
Low sensitivity
Omni sound is unique, requires some adaptation to fully appreciate, will not be to everyone's taste
The technical measurements are not impressive

ssquire

lorenzodemedici wrote:If you read the entire article from which you extracted the measurements, you might have a different view. A measurement chart is worlds away from a live listening experience. The reviewer overall liked the speakers very much.

It goes on to include a statement from the manufacturer:

Manufacturer Comment
The entire Mirage Loudspeakers team would like to thank Tom Norton and Ultimate A/V magazine for their detailed review of the Mirage flagship OMD system.

We are in total agreement with Mr. Norton's findings, but would like to take this opportunity to comment on a couple of items, particularly the measurement discussion.

All truly full-range loudspeakers like the OMD-28 can be difficult to position in order to achieve smooth low frequency balance in some listening environments. It's simply the nature of the beast. We have found that there is a marked improvement in bass definition and integration when the supplied cone feet are used on carpet or solid flooring surfaces, something Tom states he did not use in the review. This is not to suggest that the bass performance in Tom's room would have been significantly altered with the use of the cones, but we do recommend that customers experiment in their own rooms. One other item that we have found with the OMD-28's is that they tend to work optimally with the speakers spaced further from one another than conventional forward-firing designs.

In terms of the measurements performed by Ultimate A/V, we take some issue with the suggestion that the OMD-28's are "technically inaccurate".

Mr. Norton correctly mentions the difficulty in measuring loudspeakers with unique radiating patterns, such as an Omnipolar system, and then points out deficiencies in the frequency response of the OMD-28. Since the OMD-28 closely mimics an "ideal" omni-directional system in terms of radiation pattern, it does not follow standard "rules" when measured anechoically, and the gated LMS measurement used IS pseudo-anechoic. Judged against the accepted "flat frequency response" goal of a directional forward-radiating system, any Omnipolar design will appear down-tilted and show an apparent "excess of bass". However, any anechoic measurement, by it's very nature, will not take into account the reflected energy that will be present when the loudspeaker is placed in a listening room. An Omnipolar loudspeaker will also not follow the inverse-square law at mid and high frequencies. Both of these facts suggest that an Omnipolar speaker should NOT measure "flat" otherwise it will sound excessively bright and thin in a typical room. In order to correctly assess the performance of the OMD-28's measured performance we rely on the total radiated power response, also known as the "sound power". We would be happy to provide this measurement for your inspection.

Finally, the areas of the frequency response with gross deviations are likely due to the fact that the speaker was measured in-room. No gating will be able to totally window out reflected energy from the room boundaries, particular with an omni-directional radiator.

kr4

Spectr3 wrote:While this is undoubtedly an amazing deal on these particular speakers I am amazed at how much they cost... what exactly do you do with them that is worth that price?

I have not heard these in a few years and they may not be worth their list price anymore. However, they are high-quality speakers which would be a decent value at the asking price, particularly if you liked their omnipolar sound. Since their release in 2007, there have been advances in speaker technology and there are, also, web outlets offering deep discounts on the newer designs but, if you liked these speakers before and could not afford them, this is a great opportunity.

OTOH, if you have no idea why anyone would spend this much (or more) on a speaker, they are not for you. As others have said, you will only enjoy what they have to offer with proper ancillary equipment and careful setup. They will not run off your laptop.

jlagraff

Does anyone know if a speaker like this could be used for an acoustic guitar? I'm not sure if there is something fundamentally different with home audio sound systems other than they're just not tough enough to handle a live big room situation.
If this could be used for an acoustic guitar, what would be a good amplifier to use? Dual use would certainly increase the market for these.

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